Concert Sunday

So here's the backstage scoop about our concert tonight. First, I had just got back on stage before the concert started and was talking to my stand partner when I heard someone running (some might say tripping) up the stage stairs and, a second later, tapped me on the shoulder. Before I could turn to see who it was this guy leaned around me and said, "Good luck!" and immediately turned and scurried off the stage. I turned around to see who it was, but whoever had said that was already scurrying off the stage and disappeared into the back of the church. The only thing I could go by to identify the guy was that he was Asian and was wearing jeans and a black shirt. I stared off the stage in the direction the guy had left. Hillary, the harpist and my roommate last year, had seen the entire thing and asked me if I knew who the guy was. I said I had no idea. She said she thought he used to be in orchestra and asked if maybe he had been my stand partner, but I've only ever had female stand partners in orchestra at Southern since this year, so I knew that couldn't be right, but I had no other idea about who it could be until just before our concert started. All of a sudden I realized that maybe the guy had been AJ, who had been in orchestra two years ago, my first year here. (After the concert I saw AJ and asked if that was him. He said it was so that mystery was solved. It was all very strange though.)

So there was some weird thing going on with the stage lights before the concert started. It was super weird and rather awkward for both the orchestra sitting in the semi-dark and the audience wondering what was going on. But eventually the light guy figured out what was going on and fixed whatever the problem was and then we started. The first half of the concert went fine, although the audience seemed a little stunned at the end of our first piece. It was about 90 seconds long and Mrs. Minner had warned us the audience might not know what to do at the end of that piece. Anyway, the audience got over their shock and started clapping and things continued on fine. Then came the second Prokofiev, the concerto with our soloist. She was amazing and I think the piece as a whole turned out good. So then in the second half of the program there was just one spot that was a little messed up. It was in the first movement and I guess Mrs. Minner missed giving a cue to the cellos, basses and brass. Then they got lost and couldn't find their place again. I noticed something sounded a bit odd, but wasn't sure what was actually going on. Then Mrs. Minner hissed "14" to let the lost orchestra members know where we were in the music. That's when I realized that something really was off. I kept one eye on Mrs. Minner to try and find out what was wrong and tried to watch the notes and bowings with my other eye. Mrs. Minner seemed to be trying to signal certain things to the middle section of the orchestra where the winds and brass sit, so I assumed someone up there was lost or something, but still didn't know who. Then Mrs. Minner whispered, "15" and after that things seemed to come together again. I only knew which sections were actually lost after the concert when Jonathan told me. Other than that, I didn't notice anything else strange that happened so I think the rest of the piece went pretty good. A lot better than I thought it would. I happened to look at the clock right before we started the Rachmaninoff and noticed it was 8:20. Then I decided to see how long each movement was. So here's the breakdown: 1st movement=19 minutes, 2nd movement=11 minutes, 3rd movement=12 minutes, 4th movement=16 minutes. So that equals a grand total of 58 minutes. That is one long symphony. I'm so glad that this concert's over now. I didn't especially like my part for any of the pieces so I'm happy we'll be moving on to new stuff.